Two teenagers who carried out knifepoint robberies on lone females were caught when a brave woman snapped them on her phone and gave police the breakthrough they needed.

Connor Tyler, now 18, and a 17-year-old who cannot be named for legal reasons, targeted their victims on quiet paths in Stockton.

But Teesside Crown Court was told they came unstuck when a friend of one of the victims saw the teenagers, one in a balaclava, three times in the Hardwick area and on the final time she “bravely” started to film them.

She took it to her friend who had been robbed of her purse and cigarettes the previous day and the next day the face-on shots were handed to the police who made arrests within 24 hours. Both youths, who were then 17, were in possession of cannabis.

Prosecutor Nigel Soppitt told Teesside Crown Court the pair had targeted the women, threatening them with a knife and demanding they hand over items including a purse and cigarettes.

Two of the victims were carers who worked together and the third was a grandmother.

Andrew Finlay, defending the younger robber, said that he had been on a four day drugs binge and he wanted money to buy more.

The youth said that he and Tyler had egged each other on. He had written a letter of apology to the victims and he had expressed remorse.

John Nixon, defending Tyler, said that he had suffered serious head injuries in a road traffic accident in 2015 and he was very vulnerable and not the prime mover in the robberies.

Judge Tony Briggs told them: “The victims were subject to a terrifying experience, and one can only imagine more terrifying experiences than to go along a road you regularly use to be confronted by two young men, one masked and threatening with a knife.